Big freeze and summer-like heat: Wild weather hits the US
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A blizzard warning, in effect from Friday morning, is the first one forecasters have raised in the area since 1989.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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LOS ANGELES - Californians more used to flip-flops and shorts were wrapping up warm on Thursday as a rare winter blizzard – the first in more than 30 years – loomed over Los Angeles, even as the United States East Coast basked in summer-like temperatures.
Up to 2.1m of snow was expected to hit hills around Los Angeles, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, as it warned of “extremely dangerous mountain conditions”.
A blizzard warning,
“We are still on track for our dangerous winter storm. Expect blizzard conditions in the mountains with feet of snowfall. A few inches of rain are expected in lower elevations. Be weather ready!” NWS Los Angeles tweeted.
While downtown Los Angeles was not expected to see any snow, there are plenty of mountains nearby.
On a clear day, the 3,068m Mount San Antonio and other peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains are visible, and their snow-capped tops should offer a pretty sight to city dwellers.
But for those trying to travel over mountain passes, it will be a different matter.
“Areas above the snowline will likely see a combination of strong winds and heavy snow,” the NWS in the city of Hanford said.
“Travel will be difficult to near impossible during the passage of the cold front, especially over the mountain passes.”
In the Sierra, where storms in January left a voluminous snowpack, more was expected, along with plummeting temperatures.
“Bundle up because it will be cold and windy!” forecasters said.
“Wind chills will be dangerous at times in exposed areas of the high Sierra, plunging as low as minus 34 deg C.”
‘Not good...’
Other, more winter-hardened parts of the country were also affected on Thursday, with the area around the Great Lakes suffering power outages.
More than 900,000 customers in the region were in the dark at around 2300 GMT, according to poweroutage.us.
Forecasters had warned that ice forming on power lines would make them vulnerable to damage in gusting winds.
Local media in Van Buren County, Michigan, reported that a volunteer firefighter was killed by a downed power line.
NWS Twin Cities posted a picture of deep snow drifts outside their office, and warned drivers to take care.
A snowplow driver removing snow from a residential street in Draper, Utah, on Feb 23, 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
The heavy weather was heaping misery on travellers, with more than 1,100 flights within, into or out of the US cancelled, according to flightaware.com.
Hundreds of schools in the region were closed because of the weather.
The north-east was also under a winter storm warning on Thursday, with difficult travelling conditions in parts of New York state, including Buffalo, where a powerful blizzard in December left dozens dead.
But, further down the coast, some areas were basking in record-breaking temperatures.
Workers try to shore up the melting ice castle during the Lake Georg Winter Carnival in New York, on Feb 18, 2023.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
Temperatures around the nation’s capital hit 27 deg C.
“Record high temperatures were broken today at Reagan National Airport and Baltimore Washington International Airport,” NWS Baltimore-Washington tweeted. AFP
